


Watching Over You

by Nadja_Lee



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-12-12
Updated: 2003-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:02:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadja_Lee/pseuds/Nadja_Lee
Summary: Daniel watches over Teal’c, Sam, Jack and Jonas as they sleep.
Kudos: 8





	Watching Over You

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to Dee Dee for beta! *hugs*

# Watching Over You

He was still there, lingering, a presence that would not leave. During the day his ghost still seemed to haunt the hallways but it was at night, when no one was watching, that he would appear and sit by each of their bedsides, watching them sleep. His touch was like butterfly kisses on their cheek or foreheads; like a breeze close by yet never actually touching. Sometimes he wouldn’t just watch them sleep but sneak into their dreams, being able to see and feel them again in this hazy world between fantasy and reality.

Teal’c was the one who seemed most peaceful when he sat at his bedside. His hands were neatly folded above his chest and his features seemed calm and at peace. Yet looks could no longer deceive and he knew his dreams; he had seen them. Filled with suppressed emotions and painful memories he had never had time to fully recover from. For a man who was always so strongly in control of his actions when awake and still upheld the illusion when sleeping his dreaming mind was a chaos of blood and violence, having Teal’c as both the tormentor and victim in an endless series of confusing change of sceneries. Tonight was like most other nights where he had dropped by to check on his friend. His dreams screamed out at him with their violence and it tore at his heart.

“You’ll be alright,” he spoke the same words he had done so many times before and with a wave of his hand Teal’c’s dreams changed into a few pleasant memories of times gone by. He remained for a little while to be sure he was truly all right before he left in a flash of light.

Next he appeared beside Sam and was as always stuck by how fragile she looked in sleep; fully the woman and not the warrior. On occasion she would dream of Jolinar but of all the friends he visited at night her dreams were the most healthy and normal ones. She kept few memories bottled up but took the breakdown then and there, as soon as the warrior in her gave way to the woman inside. Though she had never said so and though he knew she rarely attended church he had found Sam was a very spiritual being in an almost religious way. Whenever he dropped by to keep vigil over her he would leave a bouquet of her favourite flowers by her nightstand, knowing she would appreciate it and not tell anyone of it. Sitting by her bedside he had an urge to hold her hand but knew he couldn’t. Instead he reached for her sleeping mind, seeing what she was seeing. He smiled as the memory of Martouf and Sam appeared, kissing in the light from several moons. He smiled but it was a bit bittersweet.

“One day…One day the one you love will not leave you.”

As if to amplify his words he sat with her for an hour or two, making sure she was happy in her dreams if nothing else. Standing to leave he kissed a phantom kiss to her forehead, the touch never really there.

With a thought he appeared beside the man who had been his best friend despite their obvious differences. Jack looked a little like Teal’c in sleep, though not as controlled. He laid comfortable and still, hiding under his large cover which he seemed insistent to fight with from time to time. He sat down by Jack’s bedside and watched the older man for a little while, battling memories. No matter how ready to leave he had felt he had been then there always seemed to be things left undone and words left unsaid. Without thinking he brushed some loose hair away from Jack’s forehead but the gesture was only symbolic as the hair passed right through his fingers. Leaning a little closer he entered Jack’s mind, blending into this middle ground of reality. Jack’s dreams seemed to be jumping a bit tonight but suppressed emotions were as evident as in Teal’c though unlike Teal’c it was Jack’s anger that slammed into his soul. Anger at himself and at the world as images flew through Jack’s mind; tonight they were images of his son’s death and the endless amount of ‘if only’s that he refused to think about when awake. The tears he cried in this dreamland were the only tears he had ever shed for his son…the only tears he ever would shed. Having seen a few of Jack’s dreams he knew it was only his most angry and guilt ridden memories that turned into even angrier dreams than this one. Among those memories were the deaths of any of his friends, his own death among them.

“Let it go, my friend. Only you expect Jack O’Neill to always be this strong and invincible,” his words were soft and warm with a hint of sadness for a man who couldn’t allow himself to appear weak at any given moment; not even for his son. With a thought and a wave of his hand Jack’s dreams changed and shifted, turning into make belief of seeing his son grow up, seeing birthdays he would never seen in the real world. Sensing Jack’s joy at this new dream he smiled and stayed at his bedside for a little while before he moved on to his last stop for tonight. Tomorrow night he would have time to check in on Janet and General Hammond. Janet had a very sensitive and poetic soul and he reminded himself that he had to grant her a nice dream, a fantasy world of flowers and love without the death, angst and blood she so often faced in SGC’s sickbay.

The thrashing and turning of the man in the bed he had now appeared next to told him clearer than anything else could have that he had reached the right place. Of all the people he would drop in on from time to time Jonas slept the uneasiest. His nightmares didn’t just stay in his head but transpired into his very being and caused him to have an uneasy rest where he would twist and turn and often yell out loud which not always woke him. He sat down at his bedside, sympathetic eyes watching the younger man’s twisting and turning. Jonas’ mind was chaotic at best. His skills at quickly absorbing knowledge meant that he had oceans of it but it all seemed bobbled up inside together with memories. Since his arrival at the SGC Jonas had worked hard to try and fit in and had read everything he could get his hands on, not helping the chaos within at all. All the nights he had visited Jonas his dreams had been nightmares; of all of them Jonas had been the only one who hadn’t, not even once, had a pleasant dream of his own accord. He had more locked away memories than anyone. In fact he seemed to have perfected the art of playing pretend and pushing his sorrows aside, putting on a smiling and outgoing attitude which often just lead him down paths which ended with even more heartache. Concentrating he focused to see what was plaguing Jonas now as a loud scream ran through his impersonal bunk room at the SGC, eliminating the need for him to see what he was seeing:  
”Dr. Jackson! NOOO!”

Reliving his death seemed a popular instrument of guilt in the young man’s dreams and he was sure that many of his friends didn’t help either with constant reminders. He leant in over him and stocked his cheek without touching it in a comforting manner that was only comforting in thought.

“Shhh. Don’t do this to yourself. We all make mistakes and we all make our own choices. Shh…it’s okay. I’m here.”

With those soft words Daniel did a small motion with his hand and went in search for a happy memory for Jonas to relive instead of this. He saw many glimpses of Jonas studying, holding lectures…everything work related. Those memories were good memories but not connected to any feeling of deep happiness or joy. Even his childhood memories were of studying or sitting alone and looking out at the stars, wondering if there was more to life than this pushing forward he had been taught to do since birth. He had got to have some memory, which didn’t hold a bitter aftertaste even if that aftertaste was only in Daniel’s mind but after searching his mind and finding a girlfriend who betrayed him and seeing his despair over Jack’s continued coldness Daniel decided to create a memory for him himself. He had seen the warm feelings of gratitude over the small things that Teal’c did for Jonas in the younger man’s mind and chose to place him in the dream as well, letting them have a quiet but fun evening of talking and bonding over both being aliens. Satisfied with his work Daniel looked at Jonas and saw he was sleeping more easily and the pained lines in his face began to disappear. He would succeed this time; this time the dream Daniel had given him would hold. Yet no sooner had the thought left him before Jonas’ features grew pained and he began to thrash around again.

“Dr. Jackson!”

Daniel sighed. At first he had thought it was Jonas’ much more complicated and advanced DNA which had made it harder for him to manipulate his dreams but now he found it was something more, something else. As a man who had apparently been taught that any mistake meant death then for him to admit that he had been afraid, been in shock when Daniel had acted on instinct and not with the intent of doing something heroic and thus had died in the process…It wasn’t something he could easily do. Jonas hadn’t acted like he had wanted to and thus he felt he had failed. He seemed determined to prove himself to the point of death and beyond and seemed to long even more for acceptance and love than Daniel had ever done. Daniel smiled ruefully at the young man. Janet would have her hands full with a man like Jonas. With a last soft but sad smile Daniel disappeared from Jonas’s room, vowing that one day he would succeed to bring him the one thing he seemed determined in denying himself in punishment for his failure; peace.

The End 


End file.
